Italy

Over the past few years the Italian State has launched attacks on the Italian anarchist movement with a number of raids and arrests. 68 people were arrested, and 9 still remain in prison to date. Justifying the large number of arrests, the police cooked up charges of "subversive association" and " association with terrorist intent to overthrow the democratic order". A non-existent organisation, the Organizzazione rivoluluzionaria anarchica insurrezionalista-Insurrectionary Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists- was fabricated, and those arrested accused of belonging to this body, which no one had ever heard of before! Most have now been released on bail (after spending a year in prison), and the charges look increasingly flimsy.

3 other anarchists were arrested following actions relating to ecological struggle. One of these, Edoardo Massari, was found hanging in his cell on March 28.

London group of the Anarchist Communist Federation, with others, organised a 20-strong picket of the Italian State Tourist Office on June 19th and handed out a thousand leaflets drawing attention to the repression.

The following are still in prison: Michele Pontolillo, Angela Maria Lo Vecchio, Patrizia Caddedu, Antonio Budini, Alfredo Cospito, Carlo tesseri, Christos Stratigopoulos, Claudio Lavazza, Marco Camenisch, Horst Fantazzini and Giorgio Eduardo Rodrigues.

For support and correspondence with the imprisoned anarchists, contact CAAA, Casella Postale 67 (66010) Ari-Chieti, Italy.